


introductions

by ryvrr



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Climbing Class, Fluff, M/M, Prompt Fill, Tumblr Prompt, shameless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-24 08:57:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4913218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryvrr/pseuds/ryvrr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris tags along to the birthday party of Hannah Washington. He meets a new friend (and something more?) along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	introductions

**Author's Note:**

> This was written completely in the Tumblr ask box, so if there are any errors, they're my own doing. It was also a prompt fill, which the original post can be found [here](http://mynxalicious.tumblr.com/post/130300966912/17-climbing-class-d)! I'm still taking prompts, so feel free to follow my fanfiction blog there and send some of your own. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading.

“I need some air!” Chris yelled in Sam’s ear. Sam shot him a weird look. “Air!” he repeated, since he figured she hadn’t heard him the first time. She mouthed something before it seemed her voice decided to cooperate.  


“Hair?” she hollered back with a confused wrinkle between her brows. Chris snorted before he could help himself and shook his head. The damn music was way too loud in here! He could barely hear her over it, so no wonder she hadn’t understood what he was saying.  


He pointed towards the stairs. “Air,” he mouthed over exaggeratedly at her. She raised a hand and did a thumbs up sign at him, but he could see she hadn’t understood.

“Just be back before Hannah comes!” He’d already began to step away, so her hand reached out and snagged him back. He tilted his head so that his ear was positioned more towards her mouth. “She wants to introduce us to her brother!”  


“Alright,” he called and then shook off her grip before he vanished into the thick crowd of party goers. Usually this kind of party wasn’t Chris’ thing– he preferred to stay home and get wasted alone, while crying over sappy Netflix romcoms– but Sam had insisted he tag along tonight. She’d told him mysteriously that there was _someone Hannah wants to introduce you to,_ but besides that nothing else was said on the matter.  


He quickly raced up the steps to the first floor and left the basement behind. Everyone seemed to be intent on having a good ole time under ground, and the first floor was a lot quieter. Chris glanced around and tried to remember where the back door was. It’d probably look less ridiculous if he skulked in the backyard rather than the front. At least there were fewer chances of random people noticing him and giving him odd looks.

“Lost?” came a voice from his right. Chris turned to find a slightly shorter, dark haired male watching him. Chris raised a hand as if to awkwardly wave, then realized he still held his drink in that hand. He went through with the move anyway and nearly sloshed beer all over his hand.   


“Shit,” Chris said. The guy chuckled and grinned.  


“Smooth.”  


Chris snatched a glance at him quickly as he raised his hand up to his mouth and sucked the spilled drink from his skin. The guy eyed where his mouth was attached to his hand before he glanced up into Chris’ face again. Chris quirked his brows, but didn’t press the matter. “I’m pretty smooth,” he agreed once he was sure he didn’t have any beer left on him.

“Yeah?” the guy asked. “Well hey, pretty smooth. I’m Josh.”  


Chris snorted. What a way to introduce himself. Definitely knew how to handle a conversation better than Chris did. The blond was used to having his nose stuck to his cell phone screen most of the time, tinkering around with shit and ignoring everyone else. “Nice to meet you,” Chris greeted. “When I’m not being smooth, I go by Chris.”

Josh grinned. “Chris, huh?” He tilted his head a bit to the side and studied him. “Do you happen to be the Chris that knows Sam?”

Chris lit up at that and nodded. “Yeah,” he answered. “She’s the one who dragged me here.”

Josh just studied him quietly for a moment, before he seemed to visibly shake off the thoughts in his own head. He didn’t bother to share them aloud. Chris wasn’t sure if he should ask, but then Josh changed the subject, so Chris dropped it too. “You looked lost before. Need directions?” Josh asked.

“I wanted to go outside,” Chris replied. “Get some air or something. It was getting stuffy down there.”  


“Yeah,” Josh said and stepped around Chris to head in the direction the blond had originally been thinking about going. He placed a hand almost thoughtlessly at the small of his back and guided Chris along with him. Chris tried to ignore the way every nerve in his body lit up like a neon sign and instead followed along with him. “I didn’t think Beth was going to invite her whole university group to party for the birthday.”  


“Is that why there’s so many?” he asked. He’d only gone because Sam and he’d been invited by Hannah. He wondered if she was pleased with what her twin had done. She seemed a bit on the shy side, and the only friends she hung around with was Sam, Chris and Ashley, a girl Chris had introduced to the other two after he’d met her in a class last semester.  


“Pretty much,” Josh muttered as he reached out with a free hand and turned on the kitchen lights. There were abandoned bottles of alcohol laying about on the counters, probably the ones that had been used to make the punch bowls downstairs. “The door to the backyard is through there,” Josh said and pointed to a little room off to the side, probably a laundry room from what Chris could see at this angle.  


“Cool,” Chris replied. He didn’t make a move right away and instead stood there like a lost puppy. Josh watched him for several minutes and Chris stared right back. “Uh, I guess I should go out there.”  


“That _is_  why you came upstairs,” Josh pointed out good-naturedly. Chris still made no move to go. “Wanna go together, dude?”  


That sounded much better. Chris was actually kind of enjoying the conversation between them. Josh seemed like an interesting person, and also was _just Chris’ type_ , which didn’t hurt matters either. Chris totally had a type: dark hair, slightly shorter, and a good sense of humor. So far Josh seemed to be hitting all the high notes right about now.

“Yeah!” Chris probably used a bit more excitement than he should have. The word came out way louder than he’d meant it to. He winced and made an apologetic face at Josh. “Sorry,” he said. “I think I’m still used to the music downstairs.”  


“No problem, bro,” Josh said. Chris realized belatedly that Josh had never removed his hand from the small of Chris’ back. It felt nice, being there, and Josh used it to steer Chris in direction they needed to go. If he was a little _less_  buzzed, Chris might actually comment on it or feel awkward. As it stood, he was actually pretty okay with the contact.  


The cool air hit Chris a moment after they stepped outside. It was dark out, and there were fireflies a little ways off in the backyard, over in the distance. Chris squinted his eyes to see them better. “This yard is _huge_ ,” he commented. His parents were well off– they’d made bank creating a few stupid frozen meals– but it was nothing compared to the Washington’s. They pretty much lived in the lap of luxury, and Chris’ own large family home appeared modest next to them.

“We used to play ball in the summer out here,” Josh replied. There was a wistful quality to his voice. He dropped the hand that’d been on Chris’ back and seemed to get lost in thought. “Before everything kind of turned to shit.”  


Chris frowned. He wondered if he should prod further, but decided against it. He’d only just met Josh. He didn’t think he’d want to talk about the heavy stuff quite yet, if ever at all. Who knows if Chris would meet the guy again? Anyway, he was enjoying his company, and Chris wasn’t about to rock the boat.

“Baseball?” he queried. Josh turned to look at him as he nodded. “Bet I could kick your ass at it.”  


A laugh burst from Josh before he could contain it. “Yeah, right!” But he didn’t look completely incredulous, just amused by the fact Chris had said something along the lines at all. He laughed a few moments longer and then shook his head. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Maybe you could sometime,” Chris said. Might as well push his luck, kind of fish around to see if the guy would want to meet up again, right? Chris was interested. They’d only just met, but Chris could definitely tell he was fully interested in the chance of seeing Josh again. “We could exchange numbers, arrange a meetup so I could wipe the ground with you.”  


Josh stared at him for another few moments before he grinned. It was a wide, carefree smile and he shook his head. “Sure!” he agreed. “I’d like that.”

Chris had only just started to appreciate the warm fluttering sensation in his stomach when the back door opened and Hannah poked her head out. “Chris! Josh!” she said and shook her head in exasperation. “I’ve been looking for you both _everywhere_ so I could introduce you, but apparently you both beat me to the punch.”

“Huh?” Chris asked oh so eloquently. Hannah shot him a fond exasperated look.  


“I was going to introduce you to my brother,” she said, “but you’re already out here with him.”  


Chris turned to look at Josh this time. Maybe… maybe he should have realized when Josh mentioned playing ball out here earlier? Chris hadn’t made the connection. He’d just thought Josh was some family friend or something. “Hi,” Josh said and held his hand out with a smirk. “Josh Washington.”

“You already knew who I was, huh?” Chris asked. The look Josh had sent him earlier made sense now. He’d probably known that they were supposed to be introduced once Hannah got around to it, and found it amusing they’d run into each other without assistance.  


“Yup,” Josh agreed. “Hannah told me all about you before the party started.”  


“I thought you two would hit it off,” Hannah said and smiled at both of them in return. “I guess I can leave you alone, let you get back to your conversation.”  


“Whoa!” came Sam’s voice as she trotted out back. “Here’s the real party, huh? You all ditched me!”  


“I said I needed some air,” Chris reminded her. Sam shot him a funny look and then stuck her tongue out.  


“No, I _distinctly_ remember you saying you needed some **hair** ,” she replied. Chris groaned and used his free hand– the one not still holding his drink– to cover his face as he did so. “Isn’t that what you said? It’s totally what you said.”  


“You have the hearing of an eighty year old,” Hannah told Sam fondly and nudged her with a shoulder. “We’re leaving,” she continued on as she grabbed her best friend and dragged her back into the house.  


“Why are we leaving? We just got out here–” Sam couldn’t speak further, because Hannah had firmly shut the door on her. That left Chris and Josh to stand awkwardly and slowly turn their gazes back on each other.  


“So,” Chris said slowly and dragged the word out as he raised his brows, “you’re the infamous Josh Washington.”  


“Infamous?” Josh asked and raised his own brows in response.  


“Hannah likes to tell us all the pranks you’ve done over the years,” Chris explained. “Also about that one time you turned into a viral YouTube sensation.”  


“Beth deserved it,” Josh said instantly, almost like this was a subject that was broached a lot. He smirked as he said it and shrugged his shoulders. “She got me back.”  


“You should tell me about it,” Chris said. He pulled up one of the lawn chairs that were close by and settled in. “I’m not in any rush to get back to the party.”  


Josh studied him for a moment before his grin widened. “Alright,” he said and seated himself right atop Chris’ lap. Chris jerked in surprise and nearly dropped his drink from shock. Josh looked at him in faux innocence. “Did I read the situation wrong? Were you not flirting with me?”

“No, you…” Chris trailed off and then laughed because he couldn’t seem to help it. Josh’s face brightened and he smiled in a pleased sort of fashion to hear Chris chuckle. “You read it right.”  


“Good,” Josh said and slung his legs over the side of the chair so he was sat sideways on Chris’ lap. “Alright, settle in. I’ve got quite a few fun stories I can tell you.”  


This was the beginning of a _beautiful_ relationship.


End file.
